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Nothing soft survives the Bering Sea. A lone commercial fishing vessel takes the repeated pounding of 30-foot waves off the coast of Alaska that make the 200-foot boat’s steel hull seem like it’s made from plywood. A veritable floating fish-processing factory, it is the essence of efficiency with its workers putting in 20-hour shifts 7 days per week.When the storm finally subsides, a group of workers attempt to negotiate a hockey rink that has glassed over the ship’s topside deck with ice and are instructed to bust off what looks like a glacier that has affi xed itself to the ship’s bow. The frozen waves are like granite, but 21-year-old Clay Guida is reminded that if he and his coworkers don’t hammer off the extra weight of the ice, the ship could sink.
Armed with a pickax, Guida reaches the bow with his mates and starts hammering. He is a long way from his hometown of Johnsburg, Ill. He is a long way from Colorado, where he was building houses for $10 an hour.
The last meal he ate was hours ago while sliding side to side in the mess hall, although nothing seems appetizing after standing ankle deep in fi sh guts all day and night. Sleep is a luxury. Five months at sea have hardened him, calloused his psyche out of necessity. Indeed, nothing soft survives the Bering Sea. done it a couple of times,” Guida says.
Beyond the glitz, glamour, and bravado of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Clay Guida remains humble and grounded, unaccustomed to fame. One almost expects him to show up at his fights with a lunch pail and thermos. He is a dues-paying member of his local laborer’s union -- hence his nickname, “The Carpenter.” He prides himself on his blue-collar background and takes it with him to the Octagon.
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